Being the Continuing Adventures of a Woman and her Trusty Kayak in New York Harbor, the Hudson River, and Beyond.
(with occasional political rants just to keep things lively!)

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

What the duck?

Yup, another duck doodle. I'm in the time at work that I call "my own personal March Madness", no basketball involved, just a whole stack of deadlines at the office, late nights, no fun*. In the interest of trying to get myself out of the come-home-and-veg thing that I've settled into rather badly during this cold and nasty winter, I dug out a nice little sketchpad I've had around for a while (it's a Dallas company, so probably a gift from one of the Texas clan at some point). The idea is just to come home and draw a little, nothing particularly elaborate, just giving the brain a little creative break after a long day of number crunching. I have all these nice duck pictures from that Sheepshead Bay duck walk I did back in February, this scaup and the bufflehead in the last post are from then.

Last year I was doing a lot of post-work walking, which was better from the fitness point of view, but it's just been too nasty for that to be any fun this year. Assuming Spring finally gets its rear in gear after this (hopefully) one last wintry storm that's coming through tonight, I should start doing that again, I was able to do that 18 mile paddle at the beginning of March OK but the last couple of miles I was definitely feeling what a lazy winter I have allowed myself to have!

* - No fun? Well, maybe a little. Like, there is this thing I am going to tomorrow night with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. woohoo!PS - Spring IS here and it WILL warm up. Incipient Hyacinth said so.

I am so sorry about your aunt. Being there is the best thing you can do.

As to some things to say - share your great sense of humor, tell her you lover her, talk about your life, talk about the future, share her sadness if she expresses it. All these things will help her to feel connected to you and to life.

Thanks, guys. She's been fighting this for a very long time, and she's blown us all away with her attitude the whole time. She would do email updates when she was having treatments -- no one would have ever thought ill of her if she'd ever once said "I am so tired of all of this", but she never once did. One of the most naturally cheerful people I've ever known and she stayed that way all the way through this long, long process.

Me too, really wanted to say goodbye. Still, better a quick departure than hanging around for a long time in pain. Dad said that the hospice did a good job of keeping her comfortable, and at least I was up-to-date on my Michigan visits, been making it up there pretty regularly for the last couple of years.

And she only had to be there for a short time. She was in her own home up until just a couple of weeks ago. Her last update was in February and she admitted to being tired but said the weather was nice and she was really happy about the Seahawks winning. That was her all the way through - no matter how much medical crap she was dealing with at any given time, there was always something she was happy about.

Sorry about hijacking what was supposed to be a cheery post about drawing ducks as an antidote to work-related blahs. Aunt Char would've liked that. "I'm working crazy hours, but look, I drew this cool duck". Yes.

You didn't need my advice after all, as I should have known from reading your blog for all these years.

In spite of intellectually and spiritually understanding and accepting the human condition for decades, I still have a very hard time of it emotionally at times such as this.

Went to visit a member of K's family in hospital today, which made me think of you and your aunt - though the situation is not so serious. Lots of beautiful blossoms in Japan this time of year to offer color, scent, and the hope of ever renewing life.